[ TEACHER STRIKE ]
Teachers entitled Striking public school teachers should not be denied health benefits because they have been engaging in a legal strike and therefore are on authorized leave, the Board of Education said yesterday.
to health benefits
But the BOE has not said
Chat up HSTA
if it will pay if the state
denies benefits
Lifeguards busier during strike By Crystal Kua
and Debra Barayuga
Star-Bulletin
But the board stopped short of saying it would authorize payments of health insurance premiums if Gov. Ben Cayetano's administration continues to deny health benefits to those on strike.
That's because state law doesn't allow the board to pay for the health insurance premiums from the Department of Education budget, board Chairman Herbert Watanabe said.
No new talks have been scheduled as the strike enters its eighth day.
The school on Niihau continues to be the only public school in session today.
Cayetano has said he won't authorize payments to cover the employer's portion of health benefits premiums because he considers the teachers to be on unauthorized leave.
The governor has said that if the Board of Education wanted to continue benefits for teachers, it would have to pay for coverage from the DOE budget.
But the board said it can't do that.
"As a legal matter, there's no conduit to put monies into the (health) fund except through (the Department of Budget and Finance), which the governor controls," state Schools Superintendent Paul LeMahieu said. "That leaves you with only one action available, which is to make a declaration as a board."
LeMahieu said that declaration could become important in a legal action like the one filed by the teachers union.
The board says it is the teachers' employer and urged the Department of Budget and Finance not to deny the benefits.
But the governor isn't stepping away from his position.
"This political decision by the board would cost taxpayers $1.4 million in just two weeks alone. Subsidizing a strike is unheard of in the private sector. The state does not intend to pay it," the governor said in a statement through his press secretary.
In the event that the benefits are denied, notice will go out to teachers that they would have to pay for coverage on their own.
The decision came after an estimated 400 teachers rallied in front of the headquarters of the Board and Department of Education on Miller Street.
Renee Wesly, a Maunawili Elementary School teacher who is pregnant and two weeks away from her due date, said she's counting on her health benefits.
"I hope I give birth before my insurance runs out," she said.
LeMahieu said teachers are covered through the first half of the month and could be covered during the second half of April if teachers get back to work before the end of the month.
But the state has agreed to continue health fund benefits for striking public school teachers until April 19, an HSTA attorney said.
It gives HSTA an opportunity to argue for a preliminary injunction at an April 16 hearing and a judge to decide without anyone's benefits being terminated, said attorney Vernon Yu.
"For now, it maintains everything status quo, so we don't have a problem with it," he said.
Lawyers for the state could not be reached for comment.
HSTA withdrew its motion for a temporary restraining order yesterday during an informal discussion with state attorneys and Circuit Judge Richard Pollack.
Terminating the teachers' benefits is a direct violation of statute and health fund rules that say employees' enrollment in the health fund will continue during a strike, Yu said.
State attorneys also informed HSTA yesterday that the state has paid its share for the first half of April, but even that is a violation of the statute, he said.
The health fund rules say the employer pays the entire monthly contribution on or before the first day of each month to the health fund.
"They waited until the fifth of the month and paid half," Yu said.
In another development, the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations has said that striking teachers can't get unemployment benefits because the strike has kept schools from reopening.
Joan Lewis, Hawaii State Teachers Association vice president, will be the guest in a starbulletin.com chat session from 8 to 9 p.m. tonight. If you have questions or comments for Lewis, go to https://archives.starbulletin.com/2001/04/12/news/chat.html and follow the instructions to the chat. Chat up HSTA
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Lifeguards on Oahu's south shores have been busier since the teachers' strike started last week. But while no school means more students at the beaches, lifeguards say that is only one factor in the higher number of recent rescues. Lifeguards are
By Nelson Daranciang
busy with more rescues
since the strike began
Star-BulletinOcean conditions, nice weather and the number of tourists visiting the beaches also have contributed, said Capt. Bruce Lee, Honolulu Ocean Safety and Lifeguard Services Division.
"People plus hazard equal risk," Lee said. "So if you have more people plus the hazards, you're going to have risk."
In the past week, two people drowned at Oahu beaches, both at Hanauma Bay.
Last Thursday, a local man, 53, was found floating face down in the water. Yesterday, a woman visiting from Taiwan, 27, was found below the surface within the reef in a channel with strong current. There were no drownings at beaches favored by local kids, but there have been more rescues.
Last Thursday, the first day of the public education strikes, there were 10 rescues at Sandy Beach -- two to three times more than on a typical day -- and four at Makapuu Beach.
On Friday, there were four rescues again at Makapuu, but lifeguards at Sandy Beach performed just one rescue. Rescue figures for this week have not yet been compiled, but lifeguard officials said they have been busy the last few days, especially at Sandy Beach.
"I've been down there personally to Sandy Beach the last two days," Lee said. "Our guys have been nonstop warning people to keep inexperienced people out of the water."
Oahu's south shore beaches have also been experiencing high surf for the past week, and lifeguards are bracing for a south swell expected to arrive tomorrow.
But low surf and windy weather have kept people away from North Shore beaches, said Lt. John Hoogsteden, Honolulu Ocean Safety and Lifeguard Services.
>> HSTA Web site
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